The California State University Board of Trustees is scheduled to act on raising student fees for 2003-04 at its Wednesday, May 14, meeting in Long Beach. The board now will discuss fee increases, but will not take action at the meeting because of the continued uncertainty of the state's budget picture.

Gov. Gray Davis is slated to release the "May Revision" to his budget on May 14, the same day of the trustees' discussion. Given the uncertainty of the state's budget, there may be additional cuts beyond the net $260 million reduction in the governor's January budget. Recent legislative action indicates that further cuts are a definite possibility, ranging from $70 million to $200 million. Additional cuts would almost certainly mean enrollment reductions and employee layoffs or an added student fee increase on top of the scheduled 25 percent increase for undergraduates and 20 percent for graduate students.

The trustees and Chancellor Charles B. Reed have determined that it is better for students and their families if a single action on a fee increase were to occur, rather than one action in May and a possible second increase this summer.

"We want to be able to give our students and their families enough time for financial planning for next year, and a single action seems the best and clearest way to do that," said Chancellor Reed. "It is never pleasant to raise student fees, but if we are to continue to provide access to California's students, they must increase. CSU fees are among the lowest in the entire country for the high quality education we provide. We will all continue to work with the governor and state legislators to keep the fees at levels affordable to CSU students and their families."

Because many students will not be at the campuses this summer, Chancellor Reed has encouraged a full budget and fee discussion at the May meeting, with input from students and others.

The current proposed fee increase can be found on the CSU System Web site (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).